Because it hasn’t been more than a few months since the Galaxy Note was launched in US, you may be inclined to believe that the Galaxy Note 2 will be launched in 2013. But if we go back, we see that the first Galaxy Note was announced in September at IFA in Berlin, and then less than 2 months later it was released to the public in Europe, at the end of October.

These next-gen devices tend to be released about a year later compared to their predecessors. By now, most manufacturers should be able to make next-gen devices even after 10 months. If they think they can add more features in those last 2 months, they wait and make it easier for potential customers to know when such device is expected to arrive, if there’s a sense of predictability.

Since the original Note was announced last September at IFA, I think we can expect the next one to be announced this year at IFA as well. But they’ll probably try to separate the launch date as much as possible from the launch of their Nexus device (which might be on November 5th).

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 concept

Unless it’s launched in December or even later than that, this device won’t have Android 5.0, since they’ll want to put their skin on it, too. I believe it will have a version of Android Google which will be released at the Google I/O event. The screen size will be either the same 5.3″, with smaller body, or it will have a slightly larger screen (5.4″, 5.5″), while maintaining the same overall size. The processor should be the Exynos 5250, and I hope it will be. I’d be quite disappointed if it’s the same chip as in the Galaxy S3, unless they really want to leave that chip for their Nexus device.

Normally, I’d expect them to continue to use the Pentile screen we’ve seen in the Galaxy S3, but hopefully after they’ve received a lot of negative feedback for it, they will stop using it. I actually expect Samsung to use Pentile for quite a while, even if they stop using it in smartphones. They are still the high-resolution tablets coming up, and it’s very unlikely they will build a non-Pentile display for them, because it would be very expensive for them to build a 2560×1600 resolution display that is also Super AMOLED. It might be so expensive, they’ll just stick with PLS LCD, or some IPS display they are making (for the tablets).

I’m also hoping for an even more accurate S-pen and screen that will allow for more pixel-perfect drawings. The S-pen is already the best touchscreen stylus on the market right now thanks to their partnership with Wacom. However, I’m sure it can still use some improvements.

If you’re a potential buyer for the Galaxy Note 2, what would you like to see in it?